Give Amplify Connect

Envisioning Tomorrow Today: Stollery Children's Hospital Foundation

• Wolfe Pack Warriors Foundation • Episode 17

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Discover the powerful impact that philanthropy can have on children's lives as we speak with Sue McCoy, Vice President of Philanthropy at the Stollery Children's Hospital Foundation. Sue shares her heartfelt journey and connection to the Stollery, shedding light on the remarkable growth and innovative fundraising efforts that support children across Western Canada. Get inspired by their initiatives like the Lifecycle event and Radiothon, and hear the touching story of a new inclusive outdoor play area dedicated to healing through play.

Learn about the Meet the Match fundraising event taking place from Dec 2-7 2024, where community support amplifies contributions. Additionally, Sue shares more about the inspiring work of John Cameron Changing Lives Foundation and the Crescendo musical extravaganza, which raises awareness for mental health initiatives in connection with both pediatric hospitals in Alberta.

This episode is a celebration of resilience, community support, and the unwavering commitment to giving every child the best chance at a long and happy life. Join us in celebrating the work that is being done each and every day at the Stollery Children's Hospital and find ways to get involved through Stollery Tomorrow & Today as Sue and her team look ahead to supporting future generations of children and families.

Episode Key Messages
1. Introduction to the Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation (1:07)
2. Innovative Projects and Impact Story – The Beach (4:42)
3. Advocating for a New Standalone Children’s Hospital (8:44)
4. Meet the Match Fundraiser (11:17)
5. Mental Health and Crescendo Partnership (14:26)

About Our Guest
Sue McCoy is a highly skilled development professional and has worked for a variety of nonprofit organizations over the past 25 years. Currently, Sue is employed as VP of Philanthropy with the Stollery Children's Hospital Foundation, one of Canada’s largest children’s hospital foundations. She oversees a highly skilled team securing over $40 million a year in donations. Sue has held many volunteer positions in the community including roles on the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Business and Professional Women and the Glenora Community League Board of Trustees. Sue holds an M.A. in Sociology from Carleton University in Ottawa, a diploma in Fundraising Management from MacEwan University and is a Certified Fundraising Executive.

Connect with the Stollery on Facebook, Instagram and Linked In


What is Give Amplify Connect?

There’s a story behind every action. Give Amplify Connect is a podcast from the Wolfe Pack Warriors Foundation that gives a voice to the Alberta-based charitable organizations creating community impact, changing lives, and making a difference. Driven by honest conversations with host Kristy Wolfe, it’s a chance for passionate changemakers to share their story.

Learn more at wolfepackwarriors.com

Podcast music used with artist permission
"Okay" by Ellen Braun


Sue McCoy:

We have been advocating for a number of years for a new standalone, purpose-built facility, so one that was actually built with children in mind.

Introduction:

Welcome to Give Amplify Connect, the Wolfe Pack Warriors Foundation podcast that dives deeper into the stories of the charitable organizations in Alberta that are making a difference. Host and producer Kristy Wolfe sits down with the leaders of the nonprofit world to learn more about their purpose, hopes and dreams. Settle in for an honest conversation with Kristy about the impact people are making in their communities and how they keep moving forward.

Kristy Wolfe:

With me today is Sue McCoy. Now Sue is the VP of Philanthropy at the Stollery Children's Hospital Foundation in Edmonton. Sue, welcome, Will you start by introducing us to the Stollery Children's Hospital Foundation?

Sue McCoy:

Absolutely. Thank you so much, Kristy, and it truly is an honor to be here with you today. The Stollery Children's Hospital Foundation is a foundation that certainly is doing everything in their power to ensure that all kids receive the best chance to live a long and happy life, and we do this by investing in programs, equipment, research and training. And so I'm not sure, Christy, if you know many people in the area, and certainly people that were raised in Edmonton, don't know that Edmonton is the largest, most specialized children's hospital in Western Canada, and so I mean it's a quaternary hospital, which, again, you may ask what does that mean In healthcare? We have primary, secondary, tertiary, quaternary. Quaternary is the most severe acute hospital, and so we see kids from all over Western Canada, the Northwest Territories we actually have the largest catchment area of anywhere in North America. So it's fascinating the reach that we have for kids at the Stollery.

Kristy Wolfe:

Actually, I didn't know that about Quatranary, am I saying that right? Yeah? And then, sue, will you tell us a little bit about how you got involved with the Stollery.

Sue McCoy:

And then, sue, will you tell us a little bit about how you got involved with the Stollery. Yeah, so I've been fundraising for about 30 years and, yeah, I started when I was five and I've worked at organizations across Canada. I was a fundraising consultant and worked in many different cities throughout Canada and for many different causes and charities. But I was born and raised in Edmonton and when I got into fundraising I always knew of the Stollery and it was always some place that I think I knew I was going to end up and certainly when I started having kids, I knew that I wanted to be fundraising for the Stollery.

Sue McCoy:

So I've been here almost 12 years, coming up to my 12th year anniversary, and I would have never thought that I would have lasted here this long. But I'll tell you what teased me here. We have grown, we are always being innovative, we never are resting on our laurels, we are. We're doing so much for kids at the hospital and I've been able to see the impact that our donors have made and it's just such an exciting place to be. That's my history with the Stollery and I just love where we've come from and where we're going.

Kristy Wolfe:

The Stollery has my heart. We were a NICU family there. We were a cardiology family there. All of my son's heart surgeries happened there.

Kristy Wolfe:

I do know an awful lot about the Stollery and I agree the innovation and the way that the Stollery has done some of their fundraising like one of my favorites, and one that the Wolfpack Warriors Foundation has been involved in, is Lifecycle and that idea of working with both the children's hospitals in Alberta. There's been some really great fundraisers. I mean I know that your gala is coming up in December. Another one that always comes to mind is just the Radiothon.

Kristy Wolfe:

We took part in that one year with sharing our story and I just think that you guys do an incredible job of sharing stories that people can relate to. Likely many children will see the Stoller at some point in their lives if they're living in Edmonton and you've mentioned quite far beyond Edmonton. The reality is like those services you want to be in place for everyone, regardless of how complex that child is. I just think you guys are doing a wonderful job. Do you have a story of impact that you've kind of got on your mind that you would want to share about how the Stollery is making a difference?

Sue McCoy:

Oh my, goodness, christy, I'm just trying to think which story to tell. We've got so many families I mean such as yourself that have been through the Stollery, but we've got families that have multiple children in the Stollery. We've got children that wouldn't be here with us today if it wasn't for the Stollery, and we hear that time and time again. I just come home and I look at my kids and I just think how grateful we all should be. There's so many families struggling and fighting for their lives and as many kids as we have that are struggling. The majority of them, we know, thrive. They spend their time at the stollery but they end up on the other end right Because kids are so resilient.

Sue McCoy:

I will tell you a story that has to do with the beach that we just recently opened, as we've renovated our existing beach and, For the first time ever, we now have an outdoor play area. So we know kids heal through play, and so we were, from the foundation side, been quite adamant and been pushing for us to for the hospital to build a play structure that all kids can use, regardless of whether they're in a wheelchair, whether they've got an IV pool. So we have 2,000 square feet of outdoor area. It's absolutely gorgeous. We just opened it a few weeks ago. And the story that I have is this young boy who and the mom told me the story and she's like can you believe this? So they spent eight months in the hospital, and this is maybe three or four years ago, so it's before the outdoor space opened. But the existing beach that is there and again before the renovation, the beach has always been the place that the kids loved the best. It's the only area in the hospital that is a medical-free zone, and we know that that's what kids need to be doing, especially when they're at the hospital and they're sick. They need to pray in order to heal.

Sue McCoy:

And so you had this young boy who had a horrible diagnosis and was working through his treatment, and I was quite ill, but every day he would go to the beach and it was the one thing that he loved to do every day. And so they went through the hospital. They were there for eight months, went through the treatment. He fared incredibly well, ended up back home and was quite healthy, a healthy, young little boy and maybe two months after his hospital stay, that eight-month stay, he came into the kitchen. Mommy, I want to go back to the hospital and she suddenly just like panicked oh my goodness, what's going on, how are you feeling? And he says I want to go to the beach. And so he was so like he had this idea in his head that the beach was the best place ever. And so she was so instead with the little boy, but also had to share the story with me. Because that's what we want, right? Is you want kids to have a great experience despite being quite ill.

Kristy Wolfe:

Well, and I have to say, when I think about what I hope for my son, like I know that the medical professionals at the Stoller are doing everything they can. I know that the technology is in place. Those are things that I can't control. The things I can control is my child's experience. It's things like child life specialists. It's things like the beach. We have a beautiful picture of Kane entering into the beach, and I haven't seen the new one either.

Kristy Wolfe:

For those of you that are listening, the beach has been around for quite a while and it's had a lot of programming where kids can just come when they're inpatient at the hospital. There's different programming going on, but what Sue's talking about is expanding it outside as well, because that's one of the things that felt like it was missing that there was an indoor play space but there wasn't somewhere to get outside, and that fresh air and just the opportunity to be outside when you're in hospital can have a really big difference as well. So I'm excited to see it. Hopefully I'll get to see it the next time I come up. Some of the things that have been funded through our conversations with the Stollery Children's Hospital Foundation in the past are things like child life and mental health supports and that kind of thing, and I know that's a really big focus for the Stollery Children's Hospital. But I also know that you guys are hoping to build a new hospital. Do you want to talk a little bit about that?

Sue McCoy:

You know Kristy from being in a hospital. It's a hospital within a hospital. So, being that, the Stollery is Western Canada's largest, most specialized hospital, yet it is woven within adult space. Our kids and our families need to walk through adult space. It is not ideal, and yet we are doing the amazing things that we are doing. Space doesn't match the talent and so, despite the space constraints, we are able to recruit the best of the best around the world, which always just boggles my mind, but it goes to show you what a specialized center can do and the reason why the top specialists want to work in the salary.

Sue McCoy:

So we have been advocating for a number of years for a new standalone, purpose-built facility, so one that was actually built with children in mind, because that is not the case right now. Anytime the adults move out of the space, the children and the pediatrics move in, because we are so in need of space and I will kind of tell you too, I mean adults are in need of space as well. So the idea of a new hospital frees up space for adults and children, and so we are. We're on the cusp of a of a hospital campaign where the Stoller Children's Hospital Foundation would would raise the most that any charity has seen in Alberta. So our goal is to raise $250 million and this would be going towards a new children's hospital. We are in dire need and we're really excited that this is going to be coming to fruition.

Kristy Wolfe:

Well, I have to tell you we have our. We Support a Stollery, a new Stollery Children's Hospital sign in our yard and I have followed along, and I knowollery Children's Hospital sign in our yard and I have followed along and I know that regularly there's emails sent out with updates and I would just say maybe, sue, if you could tell people how they can keep kind of finding out how to support a new children's hospital.

Sue McCoy:

Absolutely so. As you mentioned, you've got a lawn sign, and to find out more about how you can get a lawn sign, or to find out more about the new hospital, you can go to StolleryTomorrowAndTodaycom. It's where you can add your name, lend your voice, find out about what we're doing, keep you updated, and we really just need everyone to sign up. Certainly would love to get a lawn of sign on everyone's lawn in the city.

Kristy Wolfe:

You have the Meet the Match coming up as well. That's one of your bigger fundraisers in the year and that's something that the Wolfpack Warrior. So we make a financial contribution to the Stoller Children's Hospital Foundation and when we said this year, how would you like us to support the hospital? It was mentioned that matching during the Meet the Match was the way to do it. Can you tell people a little bit more about Meet the Match and what the goals are?

Sue McCoy:

Thank you first of all, for signing up for Meet the Match, because I know your day is December 5th. So what Meet the Match is? It's a sponsor week from December 2nd through the 7th. This year, we have six incredible Solary supporters. Each sponsor will match all donations on their respective day, up to a maximum of $10,000. So, as you mentioned, christy Wolfpack Warriors Foundation is going to be highlighted on December 5th, and so your foundation is going to match all donations up to $10,000. It's such a great way to double your donation, and so we encourage everyone starting December 2nd, to follow along on all of our social media channels where we're going to be highlighting our sponsors, and people can feel really good about making donations on this day, because their impact will be doubled and we'll be able to support kids that much more.

Kristy Wolfe:

We'll definitely put the links to your Instagram, your Facebook, all of those things into the show notes so people can easily access that, as we put this podcast out just in time for that. It's also that week is Giving Tuesday, so I find it does kind of get people thinking in a different way around how they can make a contribution, and so one of those things is contacting them, the Stollery, making a donation there, but it's also things like sharing what they're putting out. That can be something that you're doing as well, and just finding out more and finding out how you can help support a future hospital for the Stollery Children's Hospital in Edmonton. So we've talked about the new build, we've talked about Meet the Match, we've talked about a number of other fundraisers. Is there anything else that you would say when you're thinking about how people can give, amplify or connect with the Stollery Children's Hospital?

Sue McCoy:

Oh, great question, Kristy. I say oftentimes the Stollery is well-known but it's not known well, and so a big part of our job is to reach out to people, get them into the hospitals where a tour is very interesting to people, get them into the hospitals where a tour is very interested. You know the other thing? I have to say this as vice presidents of philanthropy, because we're out raising money all the time what is excellence today is standard tomorrow, and so for us to be able to stay on top of the leading edge and staying Western Canada's most specialized children's hospital, we need everyone's support, and especially as we're looking at this new hospital, we think about the new campaign, the new hospital we also have needs of today, and that's that whole idea of tomorrow and today. It's balancing the investment to the future while still taking care of a whole generation of kids.

Kristy Wolfe:

Sue, as we're closing out the Give Amplify Connect podcast today, will you tell us about an organization or a person who you've worked with that inspires you?

Sue McCoy:

For those of you who haven't heard of Crescendo or who have not had a chance to come out to this amazing musical concert, I certainly encourage you to do so. Amazing musical concert I certainly encourage you to do so. It's a concert put on by John Cameron and John Cameron Changing Lives Foundation. John is one of those people that I think is doing so much in the community. As you may or may not know, mental health is certainly the area that he is interested in, and so the fact that we partnered with John and Crescendo. Over the last couple of years, we've had two Crescendos with John and we are gearing up for a third Crescendo, which will be happening in May.

Sue McCoy:

John's passion around mental health is, for me, it's just absolutely incredibly inspiring because he sees the need. He knows that we need to be getting louder, and that's what the idea of Crescendo is is getting loud about, about mental health and speaking about it, and we've come a long way over the years, but we have so far to go. The event I mean, aside from the event just being super fun evening, fun music, the talent is mind-boggling to know that we have all this talent locally. So it's one of those events where you come out you can feel good and support mental health. Because you mentioned the mental health investments that we have made, we are in the middle of a campaign to support mental health in our ER and we've put out a goal of six and a half million dollars and we're around halfway there and we've made huge strides.

Kristy Wolfe:

Oh, I love that, sue, and I have to say I've been to Crescendo a number of times now. I wholeheartedly support it. I hope I can make the dates this year and we'll definitely talk about that from the Wolfe Pack Warriors Foundation as well. I've met John Cameron and he is like really a force to be reckoned with around mental health specifically, the Wolfpack Warriors in the first quarter of this year worked with MyKickstand and the Mental Health Foundation, and so that is something that we've really looked at, and I know the Stollery Children's Hospital Foundation was one of the original funders with that whole project.

Kristy Wolfe:

I do want to say thank you so much for taking the time, Sue, to share everything with us. We're always keeping an eye on what the Stollery is doing and finding ways that we can give Amplify Connect, so thank you so much. Thank you for joining us today. The purpose of the Wolfe Pack Warriors Foundation is to give, amplify and connect. Visit our website, wolfepackwarriors. com to learn more about this initiative or connect with us about a registered charity that is important to you. Don't miss the next episode. Follow Give Amplify Connect on your favorite podcast platform to hear from other Alberta-based nonprofits about the work they are doing. On a final note remember to take care of yourself and your pack.

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